Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday! Branson of My Reflection of Something and I will be bringing you a new challenge every week, to stretch your shooting and editing skills. This week, we thought we would work on our foodtography! For many photographers, myself included, photographing food is quite a challenge. There are some great sites out there full of tips and tricks, though.

For this week’s photos, Branson started at this pin on pinterest, which led her to a post on the website Culinary Travels. This post is packed full of information to get you started in food photography. It covers styling, gear and lighting. Be sure to check out Branson’s post to see what she accomplished with her light box from Week 1.

Me on the other hand…I have not yet taken a fresh photo (yet), but I have photographed food before. So, I went into my archives to pull a few photos that met some of the criteria Branson is speaking of in her post.

In my examples above, 9 times out of 10, I was using my white dining room table as a backdrop (long before I ever created a light box). Granted, you’ll notice that I also tend to add texture to mix up my backgrounds. In most cases, I was also using natural light. According to one of Pioneer Woman’s food photography blog posts (click HERE), she says that food looks best in natural lighting. From that post, I also gathered the following:

Food also photographs most beautifully on white plates (or white backdrops in general).

Avoid too much bokeh. Yes, we all love to shoot wide open (at least I do), but try for something like f/4.0.

Fill the frame – food looks much more delicious if it’s all in view. However, I also like to keep things in context (ex. pouring, a hand grabbing a piece of pizza, a spoon amongst a bowl of berries, etc.)

I know it’s not my turn to be tutorialing (is that even a word?), but I encourage you (speaking to myself since I need a new photo) to get out there and be creative with your food. This is the first time in a long time you’ll be told to “play with your food,” so enjoy it! In the meantime, I’ll take/post a new food photo this week.

P.S.I noticed that you’re still following my blog, Footprints in the Sand, and I wanted to let you know that I’ve begun a new blog. My new blog is called College in a Coffee Cup (collegeinacoffeecup.blogspot.com) and I’d appreciate it if you would follow it instead of my other blog.

Ashley, thank you and your blog partner so much for this meme. I loved it and the blogs you pointed us to.That green apple picture is so accomplished. It makes your eye travel before it lands where you want it to land.

I love all your pretty food shots! I really wanted to participate in this one this week, but I haven’t had a chance to photograph any food yet either. But it’s definitely something I want to get better at!And I’m loving your little tiny belly!

Nice shots Ashley. The apple on the book is thinking outside the box. I have a few dinner recipes I want to share, but I have to manage to get the dinner done before it gets dark! Either that or wait until the summer when I will have plenty of evening light.